Blossoming Love
by monsterintheballroom
Summary: After Elsie retires, she and Isobel become friends but will they just be friends? A new approach to "How did they get together?" femslash
1. Chapter 1

On her way to post office, Isobel stops at the dressmaker, looking at the cloth and dresses that are on display in the huge window. Isobel just decided, that it´s time to get a new dress, when someone bumps into her. Parcels scatter on the floor.  
"I´m so so sorry! But the parcels blocked my view and I ... oh, Mrs Crawley," Elsie is blushing when she sees who she nearly ran over.  
"Don´t worry, Mrs Hughes. No harm done." Isobel bends down and helps Elsie to pick up her parcels. " That looks like a lot of work."  
"Yes, I just bought some tablecloths, linen and cloth for curtains I want to sew. You can put that parcel on the top. I think I can balance this pile home safely in case I don´t run into someone again."  
"I could help you walking these home," Isobel suggests.  
"Oh,no, Mrs Crawley. I can hardly let you carry my stuff home and I don´t want to you keep from shopping"  
"I just wanted to send a letter but I can always do this tomorrow. It´s not that important."  
"Well," Elsie looks at the pile again and she has to admit that she could need a helping hand. "Alright but only if can I invite you to a cup of tea afterwards."  
"I won´t say no to this invitation", Isobel smiles.

"That is a very beautiful place you´ve chosen, Mrs Hughes," Isobel says when they arrive at Elsie´s cottage only a couple of minutes later.  
"Thank you, Mrs Crawley. I had an eye on it for years and luckily is his Lordship taking a reasonable lease. But I have to warn you. It´s still a bit chaotic and there are still boxes to unpack, " Elsie says when she opens the door. She feels a bit awkward that someone of the Crawley family visits her at home, even when she knows that Isobel doesn´t care about those things and Isobel already invited her for tea when they were dealing with Ethel.  
Isobel follows Elsie indoors and puts the parcel on the nearest sideboard. She lets her eyes wander over the floral wallpaper and the pictures that are already hanging on the walls. "Is this Scotland?" she asks pointing at one of them.  
"Yes, that´s where I grew up," Elsie says and takes off her coat.  
Isobel looks at her and thinks she heard a little bit of melancholy in her voice but she doesn´t ask any further questions.  
"Oh, I see you even have a telephone."  
"Yes, His Lordship insisted on it but frankly I have no idea what to do with it. I don´t know anybody who owns a telephone yet. Now, shall I give you the grand tour before we have tea?" Elsie laughs and leads Isobel into the living room.  
"That are a lot of shelves," Isobel comments.  
"Yes, Tom, I mean Mr Branson helped me to set them up. And I intend to fill all of them. Finally I have enough time for reading."  
"What kind of books interests you, Mrs Hughes?" Isobel wants to know. "Don´t judge me, Mrs Hughes, but I´m a sucker for a good mystery crime."  
"So am I. I love the books of Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle," Elsie grins.  
"That´s fabulous," Isobel claps her hands," I finally found someone to talk about them. And I love listen to the The Play of-"  
"The week," Elsie finish Isobel´s sentence and both women laugh. "Yes, I like it, too. Did you listen to it yesterday?"  
Elsie shows Isobel around while both women chat about their favourite radio programme.  
"And last but not least the master bedroom." When Isobel enters the room, Elsie wonders if it´s even appropriate to show her this room and why she didn´t hesitate to show it to her.  
"Oh, Mrs Hughes, what a beautiful view of the garden." Elsie steps next to her. "It must be wonderful to wake up to this sight." Both women look at each other and for a split- second Elsie is confused.  
"What? Oh, yes." Elsie looks back into the garden and hopes that Isobel didn´t notice that she was blushing again. "But judging by the state of it, it takes a lot of work before I can really enjoy it. I plan to put some roses over there and maybe a little apple tree there."  
"Yes, it will be a lot of work but I can tell you from experience, that it´s a very calming and enjoyable work."  
"I hope you don´t mind, that we have to drink our tea in the kitchen but as you´ve seen, my living room isn´t fully furnished yet," Elsie says over her shoulder when they leave the bedroom.  
"Not at all, Mrs Hughes. Oh, who is this?" Isobel points at a picture of a young woman, that is standing on a sideboard in Elsie´s bedroom. "Is this your sister? I think, Lady Mary once mentioned that you have a sister."  
"No, it´s not my sister." Elsie takes the pictureframe and smiles sadly at it. "It is- was a very dear friend of mine. We were very close once but-" Elsie shrugs and puts the pictureframe back onto the sideboard.  
Isobel feels sorry, that she mentioned the picture and obviously touched a sensible topic. "I´m sorry, Mrs Hughes. I shouldn´t have asked. Sometimes I´m just too noisy."  
"It stands out in the open, although I didn´t expect someone to see my bedroom," Elsie is forcing herself to smile but Isobel can see the sadness in her eyes.

Isobel follows her into the kitchen where she´s watching Elsie preparing the tea in silence. Isobel could curse herself that she mentioned the picture because she has the feeling that the lightheartedness of their early conversation disappeared and after half an hour of forced and polite conversation, Isobel leaves.

On her way home, Isobel can´t help but to think about Elsie´s look her on her face when she mentioned that picture, the gentleness and sadness in her eyes, when she looked at it. "Could the rumours about Mrs Hughes be true?" Isobel wonders.

Later that evening, Elsie sits down on her bed and her gaze falls onto the picture again. She gets up again, takes it and puts it on her nightstand. The woman in the picture is smiling directly at her. "You would have liked it here. It´s all we ever dreamt of." Elsie sighs and turns off the light.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you very much for your reviews :-)))**

* * *

The next day

Elsie swings her legs over the edge of the bed and is stretching herself. "At least I made it to five am."  
It took her some days to get used to having breakfast on her own but she enjoys it that she can eat and read the newspaper unhurriedly. Her eyes scan the headlines before she opens the part with the radio programme, reading the summary of The Play of the Week.  
"Oh, that sounds interesting. I wonder if Mrs Crawley will listen to it as well," Elsie thinks and wonders where this sudden thought of Isobel comes from and continues reading the newspaper.

Isobel had troubles to get out of bed that morning because she only fell asleep after laying awake for hours. Her mind was always wandered back to the picture she saw in Elsie´s bedroom and to the question who this woman was. She can´t explain why this kept her mind occupied the whole night. She didn´t know Elsie every well and shouldn´t be bothered. They only met on a few occasions and even when they dealt with Ethel, they never spoke of anything personal and only made polite small talk. But then Isobel heard rumours circulating in the village about Elsie and a mysterious love affair. Although the rumours were rather vague and ebbed away after few weeks, Isobel had an idea what kind of affair that may be because she always had this strange feeling, she can´t really name, when Elsie was around and she was wondering if the picture was a confirmation of her assumption.  
After having a copious breakfast, Isobel decides to do some gardening. She puts on her floppy hat and arms herself with secateurs. The scent of the roses fills her nose when she steps closer. An image of Elsie´s garden pops up in her head and she remembers Elsie´s comment about planting roses. "Bet those would look lovely in her garden," Isobel smiles and pictures dozens of blossoming rose trees in Elsie´s garden but when she gets aware of that thought, Isoble shakes her head and is confused where this sudden thought and this warm feeling in her chest came from.

Later that day, Elsie tidies up the kitchen after she made herself a light lunch and her eyes fall on the radio programme again, that lies open on one of the kitchen chairs . _"Mhhh, maybe she would like to come over and we could listen to it together? Stop it, Elsie! She has better things to do than spending time with you, you daft woman."_ She puts the magazine aside and walks into the garden, where she takes off the laundry from the washing line. Elsie is passing the telephone on her way to the bedroom and stops but doesn´t pick up the telephone receiver in the end and walks with the laundry basket into her bedroom. She puts the last stockings into the drawer of the sideboard when she remembers the conversation from two days ago, when Isobel asked her about the picture and how forced their conversation felt afterwards. Elsie felt sorry later that day, that Isobel didn´t feel comfortable during tea and soon left but Elsie couldn´t tell her the truth at least not now.  
 _"Maybe I´ll have a chance to apologise the next time I see her."_ Elsie is closing the drawer. _" Although, why shouldn´t I call her? I´m sure she wouldn´t mind and maybe agrees to come over for tea tomorrow and I can apologise."_  
Elsie walks up to the telephone and puts her hand on the telephone receiver, being unable to pick it up. "What is it with you, Elsie. You´ve used a telephone before," but deep down she knows, that it´s not handling the telephone, that makes her so nervous. She finally picks it up, her hand feels sweaty when she tells the operator Isobel´s address.  
Isobel is on her way upstairs when the phone rings. "I`ll take it, Beth. This is 346 Mable Lane. Isobel Crawley speaking."  
Elsie nearly wants to hang up when she hears Isobel´s voice. "He- Hello, Mrs Crawley. This is Mrs Hughes speaking."  
"Oh, Mrs Hughes! What a pleasant surprise," Isobel answers cheerful.  
 _"Good, she didn´t hang up."_ Elsie takes a deep breath. "Mrs Crawley, I... erhm... I wanted to ask you if you would like to come over for tea tomorrow and together we could listen to The Play of the Week." Elsie´s heart is beating like crazy and the moment, it takes Isobel to answer, feels like an eternity to Elsie.  
"Yes. Yes, I would like to come, Mrs Hughes." Isobel frowns when she sees the smile on her face in the mirror.  
"Shall we say around three then?" Silence. "Mrs Crawley? Are you still there?"  
"Yes, I´m still here. Yes, three sounds good. I will see you tomorrow then and have a nice day, Mrs Hughes."  
"You too, Mrs Crawley."

Both women hang up after this rather brief conversation. One of them is still smiling when she puts down the telephone receiver while the other one is confused why she is so much looking forward to it.


	3. Chapter 3

The Next Day

„ I need a sherry!" Cora bursts into the little office, she and Isobel are sharing at the hopital and where Isobel is already waiting for Cora´s return from the lunch with Lord and Lady Winslow.

„That bad?" Isobel hands Cora a glass of sherry, which she – not very ladylike- empties with one gulp. Cora agitates and pulls a face when the bitter liquid runs down her throat.

„Lord and Lady Winslow are really unbearable but," Cora gets a piece of paper out of her handbag and hands it to Isobel, „ it was worth it."

„They gave the money for the extension? That´s wonderful!" Isobel hugs Cora. „And all thanks to you! But I guess they want something in return."

„Their name next to the door."

„Oh, well, we can hide it behind a plant." Both women laugh.

„Next time you are coming with me," Cora insists.

„Oh, you know how bad I am at buttering someone up even when it´s for a good course." Isobel puts her coat on and both women leave the office.

„You can stay in the car the whole time if you want to but I´m not suffering through this alone again," Cora chuckles. „Are you coming for tea?"

„Thank you, Cora, but I already have plans for today." They reach Cora´s car.

„Plans?"

Isobel rolls her eyes because she can very well anticipate Cora´s unasked question. „No man involved." Ever since she broke up with Lord Merton, Coar tries to set her up with every bachelor she knows. Isobel finds kind of touching that Cora cares that much but most of the time, she´s just annoyed because she has come to the decision that this chapter is closed for good for her. She didn´t need a man after Reginald died to be happy and she certainly doesn´t need one now, after that debakel with Dickie, even when it was her, who broke up with him.

„I´m going to have tea with Mrs Hughes."

„Mrs Hughes?" Cora asks surprised.

„Yes, we ran into each other the other day and she invited me for tea."

„Oh, that´s nice." Cora can´t deny that she´s a bit disappointed that it´s Mrs Hughes and not a handsome gentleman Isobel is having tea with. „Well, then send her my regards and I´ll see you on Friday for dinner?"

The women say goodbye. Isobel looks up at the church clock. It´s still a bit too early and decides to make a little stop at Mrs Johnson´s bakery on her way to Elsie.

* * *

Elsie has just set the table, when the doorbell rings. " _She´s early."_

Elsie checks automtically her appearance in the mirror before she opens the door. "Anna? Beryl? What are you two doing here?"

"Oh, what a nice greeting! Are you too posh now for your old friends , now that you have your own house?" Beryl laughs.

"No, no! It´s just that-"

"I´m sorry, Elsie. We just thought it would be nice to surprise you and we were curious about your freshly furnished living room. We won´t stay long or shall we come back some other time?"

"No, no. Please come in."

"Oh, but you are expecting someone," Anna says when she sees the set table in the living room.

"Who is she? Do we know her?" Beryl wants to know.

"Beryl, you are impossible." Anna rolls her eyes.

Elsie sighs. "Yes, you know her and that´s all what I´m saying. Except, it´s not what you think it is." Elsie really hopes that they have left before Isobel arrives because she can very well anticipate Beryl´s reaction and comments.

Anna can see that their visit is not as welcome as she thought it would be and suggests, "I think we should better leave now and come back some other time."

"I´m sorry, Anna. Its just that - " The doorbell interrupts Elsie and she would very much like to curse but instead opens the door.

"Mrs Crawley?" Beryl looks bewildered at Anna, who is as surprised as Beryl , when she hears Isobel´s voice in the hallway.

"Mrs Patmore, Anna, how nice to see you," Isobel greets both women when she enters the living room.

"We were just leaving, Mrs Crawley. We just wanted to surprise Mrs Hughes but apparently we chose the wrong day," Anna says, dragging Beryl by her sleeve into the hallway.

"Oh, please. You don´t have to leave on my account."

"It´s nearly tea time, Mrs Crawley. We have to leave anyway."

Elsie is rather relieved that this unplanned encounter is over. "Why don´t you take a seat, Mrs Crawley, while I see them out." Elsie follows them into the hallway.

"Mrs Crawley? What on earth is she doing here?" Beryl whispers.

"Drinking tea. What else should she do here? " Elsie replies annoyed and opens the door. Anna gives Elsie a sympathetic smile and tells Beryl that it´s time to go and Elsie, that they´ll talk later.

"Oh well, I hope Elsie knows what she´s doing," Beryl says when they walk down the little street.

"You mean?"

Beryl shrugs. "I don´t know. But did you notice how she behaved? I really hope that I´m wrong."

"I´m sorry about this, Mrs Crawley, but I had no idea they were coming."

"Please don´t apologise. I think it´s nice that you are still in touch after you retired. Isn´t Mrs Patmore about to retire as well? I think Lady Grantham mentioned something like this."

"Yes, she retires later this year and is probably moving in with Mr Mason on his farm."

"Oh!"

"Yes, who would have thought," Elsie laughs. "Please excuse me, I´ll get the tea.

"What´s this?" Elsie points at the paper bag Isobel just got out of her handbag and puts the tea pot down.

"On my way over here I stopped at Mrs Johnston´s bakery and bought us some lemon biscuits."

Elsie sits down and laughs. She apologises to Isobel when she sees her confused look. "I´m sorry, Mrs Crawley, but-" Elsie opens the little tin, that stands on the table and shows it to Isobel.

" Mrs Johnston´s lemon biscuits?"

Elsie nods.

"Apparently great minds thing alike," Isobel laughs.

"Yes, apparently they do," Elsie puts the tin back and looks down at her hands before she continues. "Mrs Crawley, I wanted to apologise for my rude bahaviour the other day. I really didn´t mean to make you feel umcomfortable or anything."

"That is very kind of you, Mrs Hughes, but in no way was your behaviour rude. I have to apologise for my nosiness. I realised too late, that I touched a sensitve topic with my inept question. Why don´t we forget all about that and start all over again?"

Elsie smiles relieved that Isobel doesn´t bear a grudge. " Yes. Yes, I would like that."

Elsie pours the tea and Isobel helps herself to a biscuit. "So, how is retirement becoming you, Mr Hughes?"

" I´m slowly getting used to it. It´s nice not to eat breakfast in a hurry or read the newspaper, when the news are still new but the best part is, to have a lie-in, which is five am in my case. But I can´t deny that I sometimes miss the hustle and bustle."

" There´s enough hustle and bustle at the hospital . We are always looking for volunteers at the hospital. Someone who entertains the elderly or reads to the children. George told me, that you sometimes read to him and Sybbie."

"Did he also tell you, that he´s always the one who fell asleep after five minutes? I´m not sure what this says about my reading skills," Elsie laughs.

They chat and laugh for the rest of afternoon and forget the time, that they miss to The Play of the Week.

„ I´m sorry, Mrs Crawley, that we´ve missed the play. I should have an eye on the clock."

„I really enjoyed our little chat, Mrs Hughes." Isobel puts her coat on. „But what do you say, why don´t you come to my place next week at the same time and we can listen or at least try to listen to the play?"

Elsie accepts her invitation.

"And Mrs Hughes, do think about my suggestion," Isobel reminds her before she says goodbye.

"I will," Elsie promises and only a couple days later, Elsie enters the hospital and finds Isobel standing in the hallway, chatting with Dr Clarkson´s secretary. Isobel excuses herself to the secretary and walks over to Elsie.

"Mrs Hughes, how nice to see you."

"Good Morning, Mrs Crawley. I thought about your suggestion and well, here I am."

"I´m glad that you´ve thought about it. And I see that you´ve brought a book."

"Yes, it´s the one I used to read to Master George and Lady Sybbie. I hope the children will like it."

Isobel can see that Elsie is a bit nervous. "Oh, I´m sure they will. Would you like a cup of tea first ?"

"Maybe afterwards? I have to admit that I´m a bit nervous and I don´t think it will get better the longer I wait."

" I understand. Please come with me."

Elsie follows Isobel into the ward that is at least occupied by ten children. Some of them are playing silently with their teddies and others chat excitedly with each other.

Isoebl walks into the middle of the room and claps her hands. "Children! Please be quiet!" Isobel has their full attention now and all children look curiously at her and Elsie. While Elsie wonders if this was really such a good idea. "This is Mrs Hughes. She came here to read a fairytale to you. Would you like that?" The younger children nod excitedly while the older ones cheer.

Isobel turns to Elsie. "Well, I think that is a yes. They won´t bite you."

Elsie takes off her coat and sits down on a chair at the end of the room. "Well, hello everybody. I am Mrs Hughes." Elsie looks at Isobel who is standing next to the door and who smiles encouragingly at Elsie. Elsie takes a deep breath and starts reading the first page. Her voice is fragile and thin at first but after not hearing any complaints and seeing in the corner of her eyes that the children are listen, she gets more confident. A little girl – not older than three or four – with broken an arm climbs out of her bed and waddles up to Elsie and looks at her with big eyes.

"Would you like to come closer?" The little girl nods shyly. "Then come here, Sweetie." The girl climbs onto Elsie´s lab. Elsie looks at Isobel who has witnessed this scene from afar and both smile at each other. Isobel can´t deny that she was touched by this little scene and by Elsie gentleness towards this little girl. Elsie continues to the read the story and more children follow the example of the little girl. Nearly every child, that is able to leave the bed, is now sitting in front of Elsie on the floor and listens spellbound. When Elsie has finished the story, they want Elsie to read one more. Elsie looks at the door and wants to know if this is alright but Isobel is gone.

Later that afternoon, Elsie is busy in her garden. Planting a beautiful shrub of white roses, she saw at the flower shop on her way back home from the hospital.

The doorbell rings. "I´m in the garden," she shouts and opens the garden door for the unexpected visitor.

"Oh, Mrs Crawley!" Elsie hastely takes off her gardening gloves, "I´m sorry. I had no idea it´s you." Elsie is a bit embarrassed that she didn´t answer the front door and Isobel has to use the garden door instead.

"No worries, Mrs Hughes. I just came here to ask you how it went this morning."

"I think it went well until the matron came in and told the children that it´s time for lunch. There were some tears."

"I´m sorry, that I couldn´t stay but I was called away. Something went wrong with a delivery."

"Oh, good. I was looking for you afterwards because I thought that I scared you away with my reading skills, " Elsie laughs. She´s relieved by Isobel´s words because she was a bit disappointed that Isobel had left.

"On the contrary, Mrs Hughes. I very much enjoyed it. So, does this mean that you are coming back?"

Elsie nods. "Yes, I think I will."

"That´s marvelous, Mrs Hughes," Isobel claps her hands. "But here´s something you need to fill out . It´s nothing really important and just for the records. You can return it the next you´re at the hospital." Isobel hands Elsie a piece of paper.

"Can I offer you anything? A glass of lemonade perhaps?"

"Oh, that´s very kind of you but I don´t want you to keep from your work." Isobel points at Elsie´s gloves.

"You don´t keep me from anything. As a matter of fact, I could use a little break."

"Well, I won´t say no then," Isobel smiles.

While Elsie gets the lemonade, Isobel wanders around Elsie´s garden and takes a closer look at he newly planted flowers and smells at some blossoms.

"You´ve been a busy bee since the last time I was here," Isobel says when Elsie walks up to her.

"And you were right, it is a very satisfying when you can actually see at the end of the day what you´ve achieved."

Isobel looks at her and Elsie has to grin.

"What?!"

"You have some pollen on your nose."

"Is it gone?"

Elsie shakes her head. "May I?" Elsie takes the handkerchief from Isobel and steps closer. "Hold still." Elsie carefully wipes the pollen away. Isobel can smell Elsie´s perfume that mingles with a hint of sweat from Elsie´s work in the garden. It doesn´t smell unpleasant. Isobel eyes wander to Elsie´s eyes and the fine lines around them, up to the gray stands in her hair.

"Here you go." Elsie clears her throat. It made her feel a bit uneasy to stand that close to Isobel because she could feel how Isobel was looking at her.

"Thank you," Isobel whispers, taking the handkerchief back.

Elsie steps back. "Lemonade?"

Isobel nods but when then want to walk back into the house, Isobel hears a noise.

"Did you hear that?" Isobel bends her head to the direction of that noise.

"Yes. There it is again. Is ... is there a cat meowing?"

"Yes, I think so. It seems to come from over there." Isobel points at a bush in the corner of Elsie´s garden. Both women follow that noise. Elsie bends back the branches of the bush. "It is a little kitten!"

Isobel looks curiously over Elsie´s shoulder. "Look at its paw! Its bleeding."

The little kitten with ginger fur looks with big eyes at them and draws back when Elsie slowly kneels down while Isobel bends back the branches for her. "Shhhh, it´s alright. We won´t hurt you. We are here to help." The kitten meows again. "I wonder how it got here," Elsie whispers.

Elsie holds out her hand but otherwise doesn´t move. The kitten comes back in sight again. Taking one careful step after another, always looking at Elsie. It sniffs at Elsie´s hand, meowing. Elsie speaks to it in a soothing voice until she´s sure that she can pick up the kitten. The kitten meows again but doesn´t protest when Elsie picks it up in a quick but careful motion. Isobel helps Elsie to get up.

"Could you look at its paw? " Elsie carefully caress the kitten behind its ear, she can feel how the kitten is relaxing under her touch.

Elsie puts the kitten on the kitchentable and Isobel takes a closer look.

"I think it looks worse then it actually is. Do you have a bowl or antyhing? I need to clean the paw." Elsie wants to get up and get anything but Isobel insists that she should rather stay with the kitten and gets everything herself. Now and then Elsie sooths the kittens and strokes over its back. And it works. The kitten looks curiously at what Isobel is doing and doesn´t even try to jump off the table when Isobel takes its injured paw.

"You are very good with cats," Isobel says while she cleans the paw.

"My sister and I grew up with cats. You should have seen how proud my sister was when all the kittens followd her through the house, having adopted her as their mother," Elsie smiles by this thought.

Isobel carefully rubs the paw dry and examines it. "I was right, it´s not that bad." She takes a bandage and tries to dress the wound which is easier said then done but again it´s Elsie who can calm down the kitten and it holds still.

"Do you miss your sister?

"You know about her?"

Isobel nods.

"Yes, I do miss her but I know that she´s in good hands and I tried to visit her as often as I could. I hope I can visit her now more often or maybe she can come and visit me, even stay for a couple of days."

"I´m sure she would like that." Isobel smiles. " I think that is okay for now but I think you should go and see Dr Farnon tomorrow."

The kitten looks rather irritated it its paw with the giant bandage. Looks at Isobel, back at its paw and then at Elsie as if it wanted to say "You gotta be kidding. Not running around with that". Both women laugh when they see this little spectacle.

"Well, I think we finally deserve our lemonade. And I guess you are thirsty too, aren´t you?" Elsie hands Isobel the kitten.

"To our little foundling." They toast and clink their glasses and watch the kitten drinking the milk from a soup plate for a moment.

"Are you going to keep it?"

"Not sure. I wonder where its mother is. Maybe I should put out some milk and something to eat and see if this attracts her."

"It will definitely attract every cat in the neighbourhood."

"Well, I´m not too old to become a crazy cat lady." Both laugh.

"Thank you very much for your help,Mrs Crawley." Elsie says when she and the little kitten on her arm see Isobel out.

"It was my pleasure. Do have a nice evening, Mrs Hughes. And you, little one, better leave that bandage alone and get well soon." Isobel srokes the kitten behind its ear and leaves.

The kitten meows when Elsie closes the door. "Yes, I do like her, too."

After Elsie has been at the vet with the little kitten, she stops by at the hospital because she wants to tell Isobel how it went and also returning the personal record card Isobel wanted her to fill out.

"Good day, Mrs Crawley. I just wanted to – Oh, your Ladyship. I´m sorry, I had no idea that you are here. I better come back some other time," Elsie apologises after the entered Isobel´s and Cora´s office.

"Mrs Hughes, how nice to see you. Please stay. Mrs Crawley and I could use a break."

"Yes, please take a seat, Mrs Hughes."

First Elsie feels a bit uneasy in Cora´s presence but Isobel makes it easy for her not to feel like an outsider.

"Mrs Crawley told me, that you want to volunteer," Cora says after she asked Elsie how she´s doing. "I think that´s a wonderful idea."

"I hope the children won´t get tired of me. Oh, that reminds me. That´s why I´m actually here." Elsie gets the sheet of paper out of her purse.

"Erhm, Mrs Hughes? I think the basket is moving," Cora points at the basket that is covered with a cloth and Elsie has put on the chair next to her.

Elsie takes the basket and removes the cloth. "May I introduce you to my new housemate, your Ladyship?" The kitten looks around first at Isobel and then at Cora, meowing.

"How adorable! Can I take it?" Cora is smitten by the kitten and Elsie hands it carefully to her.

"So that means you are keeping it?" Isobel wants to know, also stroking the kitten behind its ear.

"Yes, I do."

Cora looks curiously at them. "Mrs Crawley and I found it in my garden yesterday and Mrs Crawley was so kind and took care of its injury. Greetings from Dr Farnon, Mrs Crawley. He said that you did a good job," Elsie smiles at Isobel, who seems to be blushing a bit.

"Do you have a name for it yet?"

"Well, since it´s a female and we´ve found her in my garden, I thought Rosie would be suitable. I know it´s silly but-"

"I don´t think it´s silly," Isobel interrupts her. "I think it´s a sweet idea."

Somehow Elsie feels relieved that Isobel approves her choice. "Well, I guess Rosie it is then. What do you say?" The kitten looks around and meows.

"I think that means she agrees," Cora laughs and hands Rosie back to Elsie.

"I better go now and give her something eat. It has been a long day for her."

Isobel stands by the window, looking for some folders. She looks briefly out of the window before she turns around and just that moment, Elsie steps out of the hospital and for some reason she looks up at the window and smiles at Isobel before she continues her journey back home.

"I had no idea, that you and Mrs Hughes have become friends."

"Oh, I wouldn´t say that we´ve become friends," Isobel mumbles a reply, still looking after Elsie who has reached the gate by now and is moments later out of sight.


End file.
